Theseus And The Minotaur Summary

The curator put together three paintings of three different women, stories that express different stories of love. These three woman were considered beautiful and prizes to be desired, however the love that they believed would be eternal was just misery.
The first painting is by Giorgio de Chirico, he painted it in 1913 called Ariadne. It shows of a woman laying down, she looks to be sleeping or waiting for something or someone. She looks to be alone; she looks to have been left behind. The sun seems to be setting, and she is still waiting. The painting is based on myth “Theseus and the Minotaur”, a myth about a hero from Athens who is missioned to slay a beast but couldn’t do it without the help of the King’s daughter. After slaying the
beast and getting married to the woman that helped him, she was left on an island while he sailed away. The second painting is a portrait made by Bernard Safran in 1964 named Medea. The painting is of a family portrait of a mother and her two sons. It is to be interpreted as Medea and her sons. The way that the sons look up to the mother they know that she is in charge. She has a face of a determination and a look that is willing to fight for her sons. A mother is willing to sacrifice anything and everything for her family. The myth behind the painting of Medea is the story of “Jason and the Golden Fleece”. The story is how a woman fell in love with a man that wanted something from her father, the father gave the man difficult tasks. She helped him achieve his goal in order to get married and run away with him. She does everything in her power to give him everything he wants, but at the end his leaves her to marry someone else of higher royalty status. The last painting is created by Henri de Toulouse – Lautrec between 1864-1901 called “At the Théâtre de la Renaissance: Sandra Bernhadrt in Phèdre”. The artist has been known to draw erotic art and much sensual paintings. The drawing is of a woman sitting on top of a man, the main point is seduction. The woman appears to be seducing the man by holding onto him or it can be interrupted in a different manner. It can appear that the man is trying to seduce the woman and forcing her to sit on his lap. The painting is based on the story of Phaedra, a woman that was married to Theseus but fell in love with her stepson. The stepson rejected her so she decides to tell a lie that led to the death of her stepson and ultimately her suicide. These three women have misfortune love lives, it seems that men have made women suffer for years. All these three women have one man in common, one man that impacted their lives. Theseus has made connections with Ariadne, Medea, and Phaedra. It started when Theseus went back to Athens. At that time the King of Athens, Aigeus, was married to Medea and they had a son named Medus. Theseus and Aigeus did not know that they were father and son, however Medea knew who Theseus was. Medea wanted to save the throne for her son, Medus, so she tried to poison Theseus. Nonetheless, King Aigeus recognize Theseus and knocked the poison out of his hand. Medea felt that the throne was entitled to her own son, but the true heir shows up to take it all away from her. After Theseus was saved from the poison he set sail to Crete in order to kill the Minotaur. After killing the Minotaur, Theseus married Ariadne and ran away with her. After leaving Ariadne on the island of Naxos, he heads to join Herakles. While Theseus was helping Herakles with the Amazons, Theseus has a child with the leader of the Amazons. Afterwards, Deucalion, brother of Phaedra and son of Minos, gave Phaedra to Theseus in marriage. After her marriage with Theseus, Phaedra falls in love with his son. After his rejection, she claims that he raped her. That led to the death of Hippolytus, and later on the suicide of Phaedra. All of these women have been affected by Theseus, the existence of him has resulted into despair to them. His decisions have led others into tragedy. One woman married a god she does not love, another was expelled, and the last one committed suicide. The reasons for the extreme acts that these women did was in the name of love, the love for their spouses and the love of their families. Love has a way to lead people blindly around. Love is willing to sacrifice anything for those you care about, it seems that these women did. They sacrificed everything for these men, just to make them happy. When people hear words of love, they think of undying love on both sides.
The common theme between Ariadne, Medea, and Phaedra is the love that they are willing to sacrifice for the people they love. However, the people they love are not willing to sacrifice everything for them. These women gave so much of themselves, they helped the men that they loved in order to be with them. They risked their lives, did all the hard work to make their lives easier in order to live happily ever after. Sadly, they were hurt in the end. These women were left behind, forgotten, or killed to just find their own happiness. All of these three women have had an interaction with Theseus, at the end it was because of Theseus that the lives of these women went in a different direction. Ariadne believed that she was in love with Theseus and she was going to live happily ever after with him. At the end, she was left alone on the island of Naxos. Medea was expelled from Athens because she wanted to ensure the throne for her son that she had with the King. A throne that was to be given to the eldest son which is Theseus, one that he didn’t hold for a while. And lastly, Phaedra married Theseus because she believed that she loved him. Only to be put under a spell to fall in love with her stepson and at the end she killed herself. Love has a way to be misguided and lead people into their doom. When people say that “Love is blind” they mean that one person can manipulate another person saying it’s in the name of love. Love isn’t supposed to be misguided, manipulating, or about life and death. Love is about giving your all and excepting the other person to do the same. At the end, Theseus paid for messing with love, he lost his mind and was banished. Love is something so powerful that it cannot be tampered with, love has a way of always winning out in the
end.